Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s plan to automatically induct retiring Army jawans into paramilitary forces, like the BSF, ITBP and CRPF, has run into opposition from retired paramilitary officers.

Speaking to India Today, EN Rammohan, former Director General of the Border Security Force, said, “This is not a good idea. It will create a lot of dissatisfaction.

"Someone coming from the Army will take away the chances of the direct recruit. This plan will be opposed by each of the paramilitary forces.

A file photo of retired Army personnel during the One Rank One Pension Scheme protest at Jantar Mantar. Almost 40 per cent of the Army jawans retire prematurely

"Each one of them has its own specialty. Each force has its own ethos and style of working.”

PK Mishra, who served in the BSF from 1971 to 2012 and was the first Additional Director General from the BSF cadre, said, “Constables in para-military forces have to wait for 18 years of service to get their first promotion for the post of Havaldar.

"If retiring Army jawans are inducted and they get the same seniority as in the Army, then the waiting period for promotion for a BSF jawan may go up by another 6 years.

"This will create imbalance and will demoralise BSF jawans.

"Even now about 20 per cent of the jawans leave after 20 years of service because of harsh conditions.

"Once this proposal is implemented, there is a chance that the number of jawans leaving the forces will increase.”

RELATED ARTICLES

Share this article

Share

Earlier this week, Modi had asked his officials to start preparing a White Paper on inducting retiring Army jawans automatically into para-military forces after they complete their minimum years of service.

According to data accessed from the Directorate General Resettlement, Department of Ex-Servicemen in the Ministry of Defence, almost 60,000 personnel of the 1.3 million-strong military retire every year, a large number of them between the ages of 32 and 46.

These jawans are retired at a young age because the Army wants to keep its soldiers young and fighting fit.

These jawans return to their native towns and often do not enjoy bright prospects of employment.

According to an estimate of the Ministry of Defence, almost 40 per cent of the Army jawans retire prematurely.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has asked his officials to start preparing a White Paper on inducting retiring Army jawans automatically into para-military forces after they complete their minimum years of service

This creates a massive pension burden for the government as it has to provide pension to these jawans starting from the age of 35. Unlike the Army, jawans in the paramilitary forces retire at the age of 60.

This means for 25 productive years of an infantryman’s life the government is paying him pension.

It is to counter this major problem that the prime minister asked his officials to expedite a plan which will allow jawans to be automatically inducted into Central Paramilitary Forces upon their retirement.

According to the initial plan of the government accessed by India Today, the Army will be required to provide a certification of medical and physical suitability of retiring personnel.

The jawans will be inducted laterally into the para-military forces if they are deemed fit for lateral induction by the Army. Not all senior officers who have served in the paramilitary forces are apprehensive about the government’s move.

Prakash Singh, former Director General of BSF, said, “The problem is essentially to fix interservice seniority. How do you reconcile an Army jawan’s seniority with that of a constable?

"Another challenge is to fix pay. And how much time it will take a lateral entrant to get promotion?

"These are tricky issues but through consultation it should be possible to sort this out.”

Army officers though believe this is a much-needed reform measure and should have been implemented long ago.

Former Army Chief General Shankar Roy Chaudhary said, “If this (proposal) comes through it will be a big step forward. Paramilitary forces will get trained people.

"Our jawans need just short re-orientation and they will be able to adjust to the needs of the paramilitary forces. The government won’t have to spend much on their training.”

The plan to allow lateral entry of Army jawans into paramilitary forces was mooted by Modi during a meeting on the One Rank One Pension demand.

The PM has instructed his officials to expeditiously prepare a plan for lateral induction. The first set of details is likely to be readied in a week’s time.